Daily Independent (Lagos)
Michael Jegede
3 July 2009
interview
Lagos — PERRY OPARA is both the National Chairman of National Unity Party (NUP) and President of West African Association of Political Parties (WAAPP). He was recently elected as the Chairman of Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC), a body constituted for the purpose of ensuring the implementation of the code of conduct for political parties. In this interview with reporters including MICHAEL JEGEDE, Opara says IPAC would ensure that politicians change their attitude towards elections in the country.
Excerpts:
What precisely would you say is the responsibility of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) of which you were recently elected as the chairman?
Inter Party Advisory Council is the strongest organ of the fifty registered political parties in Nigeria. It is recognised by the electoral act as a convergence of the representatives of the fifty registered political parties. Its primary objectives are to monitor and observe election in Nigeria; to ensure that the code of conduct for political parties is maintained; to ensure that Nigerians have free and fair election, and we are also to advise the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the executive arm of government and the National Assembly on matters relating to elections and political parties. As stipulated in the law establishing it, every party is supposed to have a representative in the council and the council is expected to meet four times in a year to decide on those issues that affect election and electioneering process in the country.
We never had it before. The council was actually established in 2007 but unfortunately it has not been implemented until I went to Ghana to meet with the chairman of the electoral committee of Ghana and he now told me that the reason why they have a free and fair election in Ghana is because they have IPAB that is what they call their own, Inter Party Advisory Board. There is also same council in America, Indian and even South Africa. Everywhere you see good democracy, they have this council, because it is only the council that allow political parties to make input in elections. It is only the council that allows for inter party discussion and resolves issues arising from inter party squabbles. We don't have such a thing in Nigeria. Since I came back to Nigeria in December, last year, I have been on this. I have been talking to all stakeholders and asking them why is it that we signed this document since 2007. Every registered political party chairman signed the document including the ex-PDP chairman, Ahmadu Ali, Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, Olu Falae. All of them signed this document. Why is it that we cannot implement it? And it is like people woke from their slumber and we started conscientising people until we now decided to implement it. So, on June 11, 2009, they converged and decided to implement it and decided to elect the chairman and the secretary.
Do you think IPAC would have the capacity to really change the attitude of politicians as you claimed?
We have no single iota of doubt that we have enormous responsibility because of the fact we are starting from the scratch. I was the Coordinator of the Obama Support Group in Nigeria for Obama Presidency in the United State. This actually helped my election as chairman of IPAC. The challenge is enormous. But I am going to try to see that what I saw in the United States and Ghana when I led the West African team to monitor elections there are replicated in Nigeria. What I saw in America and Ghana are good enough. I wasn't in South Africa but the Ghana example is something anybody should look at. So, I am thinking that in my new position as IPAC chairman, my job is to ensure that we do everything to ensure that 2011 election is free and fair. I know it is not going to be easy. We are going to fight the cabal. We are going to do things that have not been done before. We are going to work with INEC. We are going to work with the police. We are going to say the truth, when there is need to say the truth. We are going to say no, when there is need to say no. But above all, I think that we must make a mark otherwise the whole idea will be rubbished.
How would you assess democracy in Nigeria after over 10 years of its existence?
Honestly, we have not reached the stage of being cheered. But we have been able to shift though gradually from where we were to a place that could be better. The most important thing we have achieved in the past 10 years is keeping the military boys in the barracks. Apart from that we have not achieved much. The common man has no dividends of democracy and corruption is still at a very high rate. Electricity is still very epileptic. The economy is not very strong. It is still shaky. There is unemployment for the Nigerian youths. And our elected leaders have vowed not to help the situation. The biggest thing that happened in our democratic experience was in 2007, when we were able to transit from one civil rule to another. To that extent, one could say that we have achieved something. But it is not enough to cheer.
How would you compare the last government of Olusegun Obasanjo with that of Musa Yar'Adua?
There is no way you can compare the two administrations very effectively because of the circumstances that brought Yar'Adua into office. This is a man who never told Nigerians that he wanted to be president. Suddenly, he surfaced to be the presidential candidate of his party. So, he is busy learning the rope and preparing to rule us. That is why in the past two years we have not achieved much. The only thing we hear out of the seven-point agenda is only the rule of law. Rule of law cannot put food on the table. Nigerians are hungry. There is no electricity. There is no employment. The factories are closing down. There is no quantum leap in the productivity sector. Even the media people, they are suffering. It is affecting everybody. The number of papers that are read daily have gone down because people must feed first before they buy periodicals. The same way our schools are having strike all the time. Students now engage in kidnapping as a means of livelihood. The Niger Delta youths have become serious militants. The South East is no longer a safe haven. So, you find out that it is a big problem. So, the government is slow I agree but the only kudos I can give to this present administration is on the rule of law. The rule of law has made it easy for the judiciary to perform very well. The judiciary under Kutigi must be praised and commended because it has become the hope of the common man, even the big man not just the common man. They have become the hope of everybody. People can now go to court and seek for redress and expect justice, unlike what it used to be.
Taking you back to the issue of the seven-point agenda, do you share the view of the new Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Lamido Sanusi that the items should be pruned down?
As a Nigerian he has the right to make his observations. As an economist, his observations are going to be bias. He has high points with things that relate to economy. He may not have need for rule of law. But as the president I believe that Yar'Adua must have looked at every sphere of life before adopting the seven-point agenda. The seven-point agenda is beautiful, but unfortunately the government has not shown any character in managing the agenda. This government we cannot say where exactly it is going. That is the problem with the seven-point agenda. The seven-point agenda in itself is very laudable. But unfortunately the management has become a problem. We are still waiting. If in two years they have managed the rule of law very well. May be, in the next two years there could be some kind of magic to now manage the remaining six points. But so far it is only one that is working. Sanusi is a man that is into financial management. He was suggesting three-point agenda. And I am thinking that the three-point agenda may not be good enough. I don't think that the president should throw away the seven-point agenda. He should continue, but Nigerians are very eager to see the benefits of this seven point agenda.
You said your party proposed the Government of National Unity (GNU) to Yar'Adua. Why is NUP not among the opposition parties participating in it?
It wasn't just my party. I was the president of the National Union of Political Parties that mooted the idea for Government of National Unity. And the president adopted it and accepted the implementation. Unfortunately, he excluded 46 political parties from the government of National Unity. I have a letter he wrote to me telling me that he would carry everybody along. Two years after he has not been able to carry everybody along. He just carried along four political parties out of fifty.
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